The Executive Yuan is to release a list of Chinese technology companies whose products are to be barred from being used by government agencies, including Huawei Technologies Co (華為), ZTE Corp (中興通訊) and Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co (杭州海康威視數字技術), a source said.
Huawei is being blacklisted because of its alleged ties to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, ZTE for its alleged involvement in cyberespionage in the US and Hikvision because of the use of its surveillance cameras to monitor Uighurs in Xinjiang, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous.
The government is still deciding whether products manufactured by Lenovo Group (聯想) would be included in the ban, the source said.
Photo: CNA
The Executive Yuan this week began a series of interagency meetings led by Minister Without Portfolio Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) to review the lists proposed by different agencies, the source said.
The process is expected to take two weeks, after which the Executive Yuan is expected to approve a list of banned items at the end of this month, the source said, adding that the Executive Yuan has declined to say how many firms might be affected.
The drafting of the list must be handled carefully, said an aide to Kung, who declined to be named.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Financial Supervisory Commission are among the agencies taking part in the discussions, the source said.
The Executive Yuan on April 19 released guidelines on the use of “products that endanger national cybersecurity” by public agencies.
In related news, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taichung City Councilor Chiang Chao-kuo (江肇國) yesterday said that surveillance cameras manufactured by Hikvision are being used in several underpasses along the city’s Taiwan Boulevard.
He found the cameras at the intersections of the boulevard and Wucyuan, Yingcai, Meichun and Jhongming roads, he wrote on Facebook.
The Taichung Construction Bureau has been installing surveillance systems in underpasses since 2012, he wrote.
It had not originally used Chinese brands, but when the original cameras were damaged, they were replaced with Hikvision cameras as the contract did not specify a brand, he said.
The bureau has promised to cooperate with the Executive Yuan’s proposed ban and to replace the cameras as soon as possible, he said.
The Chinese government is Hikvision’s largest shareholder, Chiang said.
The international community believes there are information security concerns because the company helped the Chinese government set up its “sky eye” surveillance system, he said.
The Taichung City Government must take a “crisis awareness mode” toward Chinese infiltration, he said.
It should check of all of its current equipment, and replace and ban Chinese products that are cause for concern, he said.
DPP Taichung City Councilor Huang Shou-ta (黃守達) previously found Hikvision cameras in the underpasses at the intersections of the boulevard and Mincyuan and Yingcai roads.
He also asked the city government to check all of the city’s surveillance systems.
If items are made by brands that the Executive Yuan lists as banned they cannot remain, Huang said.
Additional reporting by Chang Ching-ya
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2